


Scales and Claws

by Tsuki_Amano



Series: 365 Days of Stony [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Dinosaurs, Fluff, M/M, Tony's a Good Boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:28:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7839487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsuki_Amano/pseuds/Tsuki_Amano
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tony, there are, what appears to be, dinosaurs running amok on the streets of New York.”</p><p>“Gee Cap, that’s not a very nice way to talk about yourself and Barnes. I mean, I know the media calls you guys living fossils, but I’d hardly say that you’re running amok. </p><p>What starts out as just another day in the life of an Avenger leads Tony to understand just how his boyfriend really feels about the 21st century.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scales and Claws

**Author's Note:**

> I never thought I'd be writing Stony but I watched Avengers Assemble and by the middle of episode 1 I went, 'They're so married'.

“What’s the problem Cap?”

“It’s sort of… _bizarre_.”

“Bizarre was those purple goo alien blobs we had last week, although to be perfectly fair, they were more disgusting than anything else, it took me forever to get rid of the traces of that mess from the suit. Bizarre was when someone decided it’d be a good idea to take Thor to an opera. Which, actually, remind me later that I need to talk to the owner and make sure we’re officially unbanned. I’d ask JARVIS to remind me, but until I can get this system on-line again, I need to rely on more archaic methods. But anyway Capsicle, whatever you’ve got, I can guarantee you that I won’t find it bizarre.”

Steve swallows, momentarily distracted from the sounds of Tony tinkering away in his laboratory as he watches the carnage unfold in front of him. A woman screams and swats at one of the offending creatures with her handbag, hitting it on the snout before Clint shoots it down with an arrow.

Tony switches off the soldering iron when Steve doesn’t reply and the silence allows him to gather his thoughts.

“Uh, so there are, what appears to be, dinosaurs running amok on the streets of New York.”

There’s radio silence from the other end of the line and Steve can hear Tony swallow. It takes a second for the sentence to register before he says, “Gee Cap, that’s not a very nice way to talk about yourself and Barnes. I mean, I know the media calls you guys living fossils, but I’d hardly say that you’re running amok. Unless someone let you into Whole Foods again, in which case I’m letting Natasha deal with that.”

“ _Tony_ ,” and Tony actually flinches in his lab, because he can feel the force of Steve’s disappointed face and it’s a heavy burden to bear.

Suddenly he hears what can only be described as an inhuman screech and Steve lets out a string of most definitely _Not-Patriotic_ language.

“Everything ok over there?” Tony asks, his eyebrows raised, as he hears Steve drop the phone and a struggle before whatever it is Steve’s wrestling lets out a squawk. The phone’s picked up again and Steve tells him to hang on before his phone pings.

“You might want to check your email.”

“Is this really the time to be sending me information about coupons and discounts? I told you last week, I can totally afford to buy full price, the coupons are for people who can’t.”

“Stark, _just check your mail_.”

“Boy Cap, when you take charge like that, it just makes me all warm and tingly,” he says, letting the sarcasm drip heavily from his tone. But when he checks his mail, opening the attachment that Steve’s sent, he can’t find it in him to make his usual snarky comment about Steve finally learning how to use technology.

His jaw drops as he sees a picture of what he can only class as a disgruntled velociraptor, probably unconscious at the entrance to a building.

“Is that a…”

“I told you there were dinosaurs.”

“Huh. I hate to admit it, but you were right, that is bizarre.”

A couple of hours later, when the Avengers have regrouped in Stark Tower, Tony walks in, covered in grease and holding a wrench. He may be messy but at least JARVIS is back online ( _he’s never letting Thor play Twister again_ ), and he’s not alone in terms of his mess. The rest of the team looks equally dishevelled, although he is missing the rather fetching claw marks that they’re sporting.

“So, dinosaurs?” he says cheerfully, waving his wrench in the air.

Natasha shoots him a glare and he immediately turns on his heel, switching on the comms to plug in Fury and Coulson.

“Do we have any leads to what could have caused this situation?” Coulson asks.

“So far we don’t really know anything.” Steve admits. Tony’s still in awe of the fact that, despite being covered in what looks like dinosaur drool, he still manages to look composed and put together.

“Wanda’s on her way to meet with Dr. Strange, maybe he knows what’s going on. And Thor’s on his way back to Asgard, Loki’s been quiet for too long.”

Fury exhales loudly and draws up a video of downtown New York where a Triceratops was strolling through the streets, plucking off vegetation wherever it could find any.

“Tell me we’ve got a plan of action. Because there’s no way to avoid having to tell the Council that we have prehistoric and previously believed to be extinct reptiles walking the streets of New York.”

“Maybe we could pass this off as a party trick?” Tony suggests weakly.

“A T-Rex stopped by the mayor’s house today. I doubt he’s in the mood to party.”

The rest of the meeting goes as well as he could expect and by the time they’re done, Tony can see that everyone’s exhausted. Clint’s not even pretending to pay attention anymore and Natasha’s glaring at the table like she can will a hole into it ( _to be entirely honest, Tony wouldn’t be surprised if she could_ ). Bucky’s twirling a pocketknife in his hand and Steve just looks exhausted. As the team disperses, Tony calls out to Steve. He turns around and Tony winces at the dark circles under his eyes, watching as Barnes pats Steve’s shoulder once before heading off, probably to talk to Sam.

Steve’s not had it easy these last few weeks, there’s been no respite to the missions and he’s been helping Barnes out ever since he decided to turn himself in. Tony knows from the security footage that they’ve had more than a few sleepless nights, with Steve helping Bucky deal with nightmares. This new mission is proving to be challenging because Animal Rights Groups have decided that it would be unethical to kill the dinosaurs. Tony’s not entirely sure how it’s unethical to get rid of an animal that’s technically already dead, but he doesn’t want to cause a rift in the time-space continuum ( _again_ ) and they decide that corralling up their scaly friends is the best bet.

At least until they figure out what to do next.

But all of these happenings have meant that Steve and Tony barely have any time to pursue their developing relationship, if you can call it that.

Tony’s a fully grown man ( _although Pepper might argue with him about that one_ ) and he knows that he’s attracted to Steve. Which is why, the second he realised that not only had Steve found out about his feelings, but that there was a potential for reciprocation, he had immediately decided to take the most responsible decision.

He promptly shut himself up in his lab and avoided Steve like the plague.

To make matters worse, that was around the time that Bucky had decided to reappear. If Tony had any doubts about his chances with Steve, the reappearance of his dead-best-friend had more than slightly given him a complex.

Until said ex-assassin had stopped by in his lab one day and had threatened to throw him at Steve because ‘He’s sulking, and listen pal, I didn’t go through the better part of a century of brain-washing to end up watching my best friend moon over a man that’s just as interested in him. And don’t even try and tell me you’re not interested. So either you two make nice or I tell Natalia that you’ve been holding out on the enhancements for her Widow Bites.”

Tony scowls at him, “That’s supposed to be a Christmas present, how’d you even find out?”

“When you spend the last 50 years or so gathering Intel, you learn a few things.” Seeing Tony flinch, his face softens, “Yeah, Stevie doesn’t like it when I talk like that either, but what I can say, there are some things that are better to joke about. I just want my friend to be happy Stark, and you make him happy. At the very least, go talk to him. For both of your sakes.”

They’d talked, well sort of.

It turned out that Steve was just as nervous as he was.

He’d flushed when Tony had called him out about it, scrunching his work-out towel in his hands, and remarked, “I’m just afraid I’ll mess this up, that’s all.”

At which Tony’s jaw had dropped because that was supposed to be his line. _Also, he made a mental note to find out just how far that blush went, you know, for science._

“I’ve never, I mean… there’s never really been anyone. There was Peggy for just a while before the war, but that’s all. I don’t know what I’m doing here, and I guess that makes me nervous.”

“Hey, being nervous is completely normal. I was just as nervous as you were, don’t look so shocked, I was terrified that I’d screw something up, but we can work through this.”

They agree to take things slow, and for the most part, no one in the team is aware of their ‘relationship’. ( _Well, Bucky knows and Tony’s fairly certain that Natasha knows because it’s Natasha_ ). But they’re discreet and subtle. They start out with pizza dates and Steve takes Tony out to a baseball game once or twice. Tony’s more interested in the way Steve’s eyes light up during the game, but that gives him plenty to be interested in.

Steve takes to stopping by at the lab. Occasionally, it’s with a hot meal, but sometimes it’s just to curl up on the sofa that Tony’s kept at the side of the room and watch Tony work. Tony had once raised an eyebrow and asked him how he managed to do that without it being boring, at which Steve had shrugged his shoulders and smiled, remarking that he didn’t get bored when he was with Tony.

At the beginning they don’t even mention Howard. Tony’s not sure if he’s ready for that. But then one day, when Steve’s in his study, he notices the photo of Howard that Tony has on his desk, with one arm draped over his shoulder, a rare moment of paternal bonding from the man. Tony watches the conflicting emotions on his face, and there’s a moment of pure unadulterated grief there that makes his heart ache.

“You really miss him huh?” he says, carefully keeping his voice unaffected.

His body still, Steve says. “I do, it’s…it’s hard sometimes. If it wasn’t for Howard and Dr. Erskine, I wouldn’t be alive today. And Howard was my friend. Sometimes I wish I’d had the chance to say goodbye to all the people that I left behind.”

“He was really different in those days wasn’t he?” Tony says, bitterness seeping into his voice.

“I guess he was.”

“You know, mom once said he changed after you died. I don’t think he ever got over losing you. You were one of his closest friends and when you went down on that plane, a part of him, the man that you knew, it went down with him”.

Tony glances up and sees Steve’s face, wracked with guilt, and he backtracks. “Hey, no. This one’s not your fault. Howard royally screwed up, and there’s no one to blame here except for him.”

When Tony says it with that much conviction, he can almost believe it himself.

The pair steadily get closer, with Steve actually managing to pull Tony away for movie nights and getting him to sleep for almost healthy amounts on a regular basis.

It’s when the bags under his eyes start disappearing that Pepper makes a comment.

She strides in one morning, looking put together as usual, her heels clacking against the floor. Noticing the steaming cup of coffee at his table, she raises her eyebrow. Steve’s been making his coffee for the last few weeks, making sure that there weren’t unreasonable amounts of caffeine in the brew.

“Good morning Ms. Potts,” Tony says nervously, tapping away at his tablet.

She lets him squirm for a few more moments, “So, you and Steve huh?”

The tone of her voice doesn’t even let him pretend to protest.

“You’re good for each other,” she says, “I don’t think I remember the last time I saw you this well rested. He’s good for you Tony and despite what you think, you’re good for him.”

She places some papers on his desk to sign before smiling at him, “I’m happy for you Tony, but if he hurts you, I’ll have his star-spangled head on a platter.”

Barnes doesn’t give him an oral version of the shovel talk. He just sits down in front of him at breakfast one day and smiles at him, before stabbing his fork into his eggs. Tony gulps and Barnes smirks back at him.

Well, no one assumed that their relationship was going to be anything but interesting.

“How’re you holding up?” he asks Steve, wincing when he takes off his cowl. There’s a long gash running down his cheek and one of his eyes is bruised. “And the reason why you didn’t think going to medical was a good plan was what exactly?”

He lets Steve lean against him and almost frog marches him back to their room.

“Didn’t need medical treatment, I’ll heal. You know that. The serum…”

“The serum is there to _prevent you from dying_ in extreme circumstances, when there’s no other option. Not for you to act like a brave fool and half scare me to death.” They have this argument every time and Tony’s sure they’ll have it again, just because they’re both stubborn hot-headed fools.

Pushing Steve to sit on the bed, he walks into the bathroom and pulls out their first aid box. By the time he’s back in the room, Steve’s taken off his boots and placed them neatly to the side. He’s started removing his suit, and Tony swears under his breath when he sees what appears to be a bruise in the shape of a footprint on his chest. It’s times like these he wished he hadn’t given up drinking. Moments like these would be a lot easier to handle if he was drunk, or at least pleasantly intoxicated.

“Did you let a dinosaur use you as stepping stool?” he asks.

Steve just sighs exhaustedly and Tony’s actually starting to get a bit worried about how complacent he’s being. Normally Tony has to fight tooth and nail to get Steve to sit still for this. He cleans out the cuts and grazes and applies salve to them, before wrapping them in bandages. Steve doesn’t like ice or cold packs, they remind him too much of his time under the ice. Instead Tony just applies some gel on the bruise, wraps it up and hands him a thick sweatshirt with the MIT logo on it.

He manages to get him to eat some soup and almost an entire sandwich, but it’s when Steve allows him to force painkillers down his throat, that Tony realises this is beyond post-battle exhaustion and stress.

They’re curled up on the bed, with Tony looking over some plans for dinosaur cages ( _what has his life become_ ) and Steve watching a home improvement show on his tablet, when Steve finally tells Tony what’s on his mind.

He shifts a bit, turning around until he’s turned towards Tony.

“Do you need more painkillers?” Tony asks, although he knows that’s not the case.

“No, I…that’s not it.”

Tony hums reassuringly, before letting his hand drift onto Steve’s shoulder, rubbing small circles there.

“It’s just, _dinosaurs_ Tony. _Actual dinosaurs_.” Steve takes a shaky breath before continuing, “I thought I’d be able to adjust to this century, and it’s been getting better, but then something like this pops up and I just don’t know if I can.”

Well. Tony had to admit, he didn’t expect that.

“Steve,” he says carefully, “None of us were expecting dinosaurs. We’re all just as weirded out as you were. This definitely isn’t something normal.”

“You know what the Gazette published,” Steve laughs bitterly, “There’s a picture of me and a dinosaur next to each other, and it’s captioned, **_Guess which relic is older_**. And they’re right, I’m a relic, I still can barely use my phone beyond basic texting and calling people. I had to get Clint to help me send you that photo of the dinosaur. I still get confused when I try to use social media; you saw what happened on Twitter last week.”

Tony had seen. And had needed to sit down for an extended period of time after that.

“I get surprised by the ways the world has changed and I’ve been living here for so long. But the thing is, I shouldn’t be. Look at Bucky, he’s…”

“ _He’s not you_. Don’t start with me Rogers. You and I both know that he’s been acclimatised to modern society in part through HYDRA. That more or less puts him at an advantage over you. You literally woke up in another century. I think you have permission to feel a bit out of place. Why didn’t you tell us that you felt so bad about this though?”

Steve just shrugs and ducks his head.

That’s a dumb question. If there’s one thing that Tony’s realised, it’s that Steve’s as adamant as he is about hiding his problems. He’ll deal with everyone else’s situations before even beginning to admit that he isn’t feeling too great.

“It doesn’t bother me, you know.” Tony says suddenly, “That you get confused about certain things. Because to me, that’s just a part of whom you are. And you’re learning more and more every day, and if I’m going to be honest, which I am, I’ve never seen someone with such a steep learning curve. Ignore those tabloids, because the only way they get paid is if they come up with anything even halfway decent. You’re not a relic, no matter how much we may joke about it. You’re very much an essential part of this century, of this team and as it happens, of my life.”

If his face is flushed after that speech, Steve doesn’t comment on it. His eyes look a bit teary, and he presses a chaste kiss to Tony’s lips, before curling up into his side. Tony’s fully prepared to switch off his tablet and go to sleep when there’s a loud crash from somewhere in the tower.

“JARVIS?” he calls out, he and Steve already half-way out of the room.

“It appears, sir, that Agent Barton has attempted to tame a velociraptor in the kitchen.”

“ ** _You’ve got to be kidding me_**.”

He looks at Steve who looks like he can barely walk in a straight line, let alone deal with Clint right now.

“I’ll deal with this one Cap,” he says, running a hand down Steve’s back. “You go ahead to bed.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive, I can deal with a little lizard.”

Once he’s in the elevator, he tells JARVIS off-hand, “Make a note to find some dirt on whoever’s in-charge of the Gazette. And send them a notice that Tony Stark wants them to retract that article or else they’re being served a legal notice for defamation.”

He steps out of the elevator grimacing as he notices a hole in the wall next to the kitchen.

Side-stepping some of the damage, he adds, “And place an order for some books on modern technology usage, speed post please.”

“Of course sir.” If Tony didn’t know any better he’d say there was amusement in the AI’s voice.

Steeling himself for the worst, he steps into the kitchen.

“Alright birdbrain, you’d better have an amazing reason for why there’s a hole in the shape of a giant lizard in my wall.”

* * *

 

***Bonus Scene***

_“Aww Speedy no.”_

_“Speedy? You named it?”_

_“Well of course I named it. You always name your pets.”_

_“Clint no. You cannot have a dinosaur as a pet.”_

_“Why not? There’s no laws against it, and besides, Lucky needs a friend!”_

_“ **No**.”_

* * *

 

I'm on tumblr! Come say [hi!](http://everydayindian.tumblr.com/) 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know. I ship it.


End file.
